A year after making their debut as a giant killer Coventry were back as they travelled to a Sheffield Wednesday side who had also been a victim last year, result? an upset of course. City traveled to Owlerton with their first ever International in Welsh keeper Bob Evans but he was under the cosh in the early stages and had the woodwork to thank when he was beaten by Teddy Glennon, missing when it seemed easier to score. Within seconds of that let off City were in front with the ex Sunderland and Irish international Harry Buckle scoring against top flight opponents for the second consecutive year. Wednesday responded well though and had leveled through Andy Wilson before the break to set up a second half in which they started much the stronger side. Yet again luck was on Bob Evan's side as this time Wilson drilled a shot straight at the keeper with the goal at his mercy when the Welshman knew little about it. At the other end Teddy Davison wasn't having quite as quiet an afternoon as the start of the second period had suggested and was forced into an excellent save when it seemed certain City would regain the lead. The reprieve was short however as Wednesday were reduced to ten men by loss of Jimmy Spoors to injury before Harry Buckle rounded Davison to leave Archie Smith with an open goal to seal the tie.

Less than a quarter of a century into the history of League football Crewe Alexandra were already a team whose glory days belonged to a bygone time. They had been cup semi finalists in 1888 and then were bold enough to join the newly formed Second division back in 1892 but it hadn't been a success and the club lost their status after four seasons, not to mention three F A cup exits to non league clubs in the qualifying rounds in the process. By 1911 Crewe were in the Birmingham & District League, not considered as strong as the Southern League, especially wih its many reserve sides competing but still the best league for clubs from the Midlands and Wales at that time. Still Crewe were to be no match for Bristol City, even if they were struggling at the wrong end of the First division. The Robins started in encouraging style but failed to find a way through but when Crewe attacked for the first time they showed more bite with Whalley and Chapple combining well to set up King to open the scoring. In the second half City fared little better in front of goal and rarely troubled the Alex keeper while at the other end William Bailiff was having a stinker, allowing the softest of shots from Mason to double Alex's lead. With just fifteen minutes left on the clock there was little hope of a City revival and with the disgruntled home fans streaming out of Ashton Gate their pain was compounded by Chapple heading the third from a Mason corner. Alex's last appearance in the second round had been in the great '88 cup run but their luck ran out in front of 10,000 fans against Midland League Grimsby at Gresty Road when the visitors opened the scoring through a first minute penalty. Crewe did draw level through Chappel but lost keeper Coventry to injury and went down 5-1. It would be another thirteen years before the then third division Crewe played in the second round again, by which time the big teams were exempt until round three. Harry King meanwhile carved his own notch of history by joining Arsenal, scoring the first ever hat-trick at Highbury while also being one of a very few Gunners in the Highbury era to have played all his league games outside the top flight.

Sometimes the Gods are just on your side and nothing the opposition do will change that. North Eastern League side Darlington were outclassed for almost this entire game but they dug in and defended as if their life depended on it, breaking out just once to allow Alec Fraser the opportunity to give the visitors a shock half time lead. In the second half United attacked with even more vigour and their reward seemed to come when James Taylor felled Joe Kitchen in the penalty area. Tommy Simmons took it and blasted the ball off the crossbar. 12,000 crammed into Feethams to see Bradford {Park Avenue} beaten 2-1 with Alec Fraser again netting to sensationally take the team into the third round where Swindon proved to good by three goals.

The first of a double bill of cup upsets for The eventual Southern League Champions as they again showed their metal as the most feared non league side in the land at that time. Most of the side that defeated Notts County were by now cup upset veterans and the surprise was not at all a huge one when Archie Bown gave the home side the lead after twenty-five minutes before Swindon's legendary England International Harold Fleming converted Bolland's cross before the break. County had hope when Jerry Dean converted a second half penalty but any hope of a fight back was killed off by Bown's second of the game. Woolwich Arsenal would be next to face the Robins in round two at the County Ground {see below}

West Ham scored their first ever victory over a top flight side in the cup but this was a bloodless, not to mention ultimately unfair, upset of a hapless Forest side, rapidly heading for relegation and suffering their third consecutive season as a giant slain. Indeed the first half was a non event bordering on farce as the players played out the tamest of games shrouded in fog so dense that the fans saw little of the action. The fog thankfully lifted a little in time for the second period in which Danny Shea got away with punching the Hammers into an early lead which Forest were unable to recover from. Shea clinched the tie with twenty minutes left, amazingly again punching the ball into the net and although Grenville Morris' late effort did set up a nervy finish before the delighted Hammers celebrated. To be fair to the referee Shea's fisted goals went largely unseen even by his opponents and it was only by the goalscorer's own confession many years later that it came to light that both goals should not have counted and that poor Forest should really have left London with a last gasp victory.

Things got even better for the Hammers in round two as they outclassed Preston with George Webb becoming only the second player ever to score a hat-trick for the underdogs in such a cup upset. West Ham were marginally the better side in the first half in front of an increased crowd but it wasn't until the stroke of half time that England amateur international, Webb opened the scoring. In the second half Preston capitulated but somehow managed to stay in the game as Shea and Caldwell spurned gilt edged chances. Webb however was not so wasteful and struck twice late on to put a result more deserving of the performance in place. In round three United were drawn yet again at home to top flight opponents in champions elect Manchester United {see below}

Southern League champions elect Swindon had already put paid to Notts County in round one when Arsenal came visiting in the second. On a perfect pitch Swindon struggled to contain Arsenal in the early stages and were fortunate not to fall behind in the first half to the first £1,000 player, Alf Common, hanging on to half time with no score. Worse still for the Robins was the loss of Billy Silto to a twisted knee for fifteen minutes early in the second period but his return sparked the side's victory when Arsenal keeper, Bateup suffered a costly rush of blood to the head. The keeper raced out to a Harold Fleming through ball which he had no hope of reaching before the advancing Bob Jefferson, who calmly slotted the winner past the keeper. Non league Darlington were easily dispatched in the third round before Chelsea proved too good in the quarter finals.

During the 1909/10 season Hull and Oldham, two clubs who had never played among the elite before, had fought a ding dong battle for the second promotion place in the Second division. In December 1909 Hull had easily beaten Oldham 4-0 at The Anlaby Road circle to take the upper hand in the promotion battle but the decider was to be at Oldham on April 30th. Hull went into the game needing a draw for promotion to the top flight, Oldham had to win and the Latics did just that, emphatically triumphing 3-0 to book their debut in the First Division. Hull were naturally confident of putting the matter right in 1910/11 season but their promotion hopes were already slipping away when fate handed them a chance of revenge over the team who had denied them promotion. Worse still for Hull fans was that Oldham were doing okay among the elite when they returned to The Circle for the second round cup tie in which old scores were settled in a tetchy first half in which the ref's whistle was overworked. Play from the home side was considered aggressive but effective as they had the better of the first period, although both Fay and Woodger should have put the visitors in front by the interval. Hull really went for it in the second period and dominated the visitors and deservedly took the lead when Gordon Wright's cross eluded the Oldham backs and was finished off by City's first great striker Arthur Temple on the hour. Tim Wright should have settled the issue minutes later but missed when well placed and other chances went begging as Oldham rarely looked like getting back into it. For Hull then some revenge, inflicting Oldham's first taste of cup upset football A great day out at mighty Newcastle was Hull's reward in the third round when 46,000 people, the biggest crowd ever to watch the Tigers at that time saw them recover from going a goal down within five minutes to level through Joe Smith. Newcastle's star studded side kicked on to a 3-1 lead, though their fans were still made to sweat when Smith scored again in the dying minutes. These great days for the Tigers suggested that top flight football must surely be just around the corner but it proved a case of so near and yet so far as ninety-eight years would pass before the club finally achieved top flight status. Hull's teenage forward Tommy Browell was more fortunate, being snapped up by Everton at the end of the season and becoming an instant hero to the Goodison faithful. It was as a Manchester City striker that he truly would be remembered though, giving that club great service which was highlighted by the defeat of local rivals United in the only meeting between the sides in an F A cup semi final in 1926. Browell was by then a seasoned veteran, picking up a runners up medal that year. Today a street near City's former Maine Road home bears his name.

It had been less than a year since City had last visited Molineux on their way to winning the Second division title but on that occasion a confident side had left defeated. Now ten months on City were anything but confident as they fought to stay in the top flight. Wolves were a long way froma side capable of promotion but they did boast a side that still contained five of their 1908 cup winning side and against opponents who held no fears for them they quickly took control of this tie, taking the lead with a scrappy scrambled effort midway through the first half. Chances came at either end in the second period in which both keepers rode their luck but Wolves clung on despite visibly wilting in the closing stages. A home draw against promotion chasing Chelsea in the quarter finals gave rise to a feeling that Wolves could repeat the glory of three years earlier but they were dashed in half an hour as the visitors roared into a two goal lead that they defended confidently.

In the twenty-first century the most famous footballer in the world has the glamour of Los Angeles in which to wind down his career but a century earlier his twentieth century peer was hoping for one last swansong in the top flight with the club where his legend had been born. Steve Bloomer is without doubt the first true legend of English football, known even in the early 1900s wherever football was played he had been the great star of the luckless Derby side of the 1890s who had so often threatened to win league, cup or both but in the end finished with nothing. Bloomer himself gained two cup runners up medals but other than his twenty-three England caps he won nothing else but praise. By 1911 he was in his second spell at The Baseball Ground in a Derby side desperately hoping to get back into the big time after a four year absence. Sadly for the Rams, by the time First division Everton came visiting in this cup tie, their promotion hopes were fading fast yet again and all their fans had to cling on to was the hope of sinking a Toffees side who themselves were coming into the tie with their own title aspirations beginning to fade. Even so the Merseysiders were highly confident of their chances of compensation through the cup even if many of their traveling fans came to the Midlands primarily to get one last chance to see the thirty-seven year old legend run out for the home team. Back in these days of the early twentieth century fans would turn up often to watch a player rather than the team themselves and while Everton fans would have been keen to see Bloomer at his best they still expected nothing more than a valiant performance in a team that should otherwise be crushed, a consolation goal perhaps would satisfy. They left in shock as the Bloomer inspired Derby tore a hapless Everton side apart and gave the established Irish international duo of keeper Billy Scott and captain Val Harris, both highly regarded players considered among the best in the game, a terrible afternoon. Indeed the first shock was that it took the Rams over a quarter of the game to finally break through with Bloomer naturally being the scorer. Ten minutes later Everton broke the golden rule of playing until hearing the whistle when the entire back line stopped dead to look for the linesman's flag to stop Alf Bentley. It didn't come and the delighted Derby forward waltzed round Scott before sliding the ball, unchallenged into the net. Everton were furious at the decision and never recovered their composure, being all at sea when Bentley set up Horace Barnes to seal their fate before the interval. All hope of a second half fightback were quickly killed when Jimmy Bauchop was upended in the box and Bloomer netted the resultant penalty to set up a second half in which the Rams created chance after chance. Bauchop hit the woodwork but couldn't be denied when a powerful header left Scott flat footed for the fifth. Indeed Everton could have no complaints as, with a bit more composure in front of goal The Rams could have taken full revenge for their record 2-11 cup defeat a generation earlier. Talk of Steve Bloomer finally getting his cup winner's medal remained muted from a cautious Derby public who now had to travel to cup experts Newcastle in the quarter finals. They fell behind midway through the first half and never recovered, sinking to a four goal defeat. Success wasn't too far away though as the Rams won the Second division the following year with a majority of this team still in place. Ernie Scattergood and Jimmy Bagshaw both went on to be capped by England while Alf Bentley went on to win the title at West Bromwich Albion in 1920.